


In the Most Unexpected of Places

by Wildcard



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Modern AU, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-07
Updated: 2018-02-07
Packaged: 2019-03-15 01:34:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13602810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wildcard/pseuds/Wildcard
Summary: Merlin has been searching all over England for Arthur.He finds Gwaine instead.





	In the Most Unexpected of Places

**Author's Note:**

  * For [enviropony](https://archiveofourown.org/users/enviropony/gifts).



In the end, Merlin finds Gwaine first.

Merlin’s eyes are on the crowd, as always. He walks the length of England, meeting every person’s gaze frankly and searching their face for Arthur’s familiar features. He has walked his shoe leathers raw and rubbed open, he has walked his sneakers to splitting, he has walked his boots to the thinness of tissues. 

Being a sorcerer does not prevent the creation of blisters. Merlin’s blood marks England, making a sacred trail of seeking.

 

His feet are sore but he keeps walking, putting one foot after the other. A bird cry - the lark, so rare to find in a city - sings out a trill of music and Merlin looks up only to see Gwaine.

Gwaine is smiling down at him, blown up to hundreds of times his actual size. The billboard hangs over the square, so large that Merlin can hardly believe he has not seen it before. Or perhaps he has but he never paid attention before because it was never Gwaine that the billboard boasted.

Gwaine, dressed in a loose white shirt open at the throat, looks as if he had just rolled out of bed. He has the same lustrous brown hair and stubble, the same easy smile and laughing brown eyes. There is no way to mistake him for anyone else; to see him is to come home.

“Gwaine.” Merlin breathes the name to himself like an invocation, standing and staring with his head tipped back as the crowd breaks around him like waves around a boulder.

\------------------------------------

In Camelot, he gained access to the castle by walking up to it. Gwaine is better guarded, an actor whose fame has him surrounded by bodyguards, assistants, agents and other people whose sole purpose is to act as gatekeepers to Gwaine’s life.

It takes magic to get Merlin access to Gwaine’s life but when he walks in with a tablet under his arm and a smile on his face, Gwaine smiles back at him as if they’ve known each other all their lives long.

“You’re my new assistant?” Gwaine asked, holding his hand out.

Merlin resists the temptation to go in for a hug instead. His eyes sting so he blinks hard, taking Gwaine’s hand and giving it a hard squeeze. 

“Yes. It’s good to meet you.” If he sounds too honest, perhaps Gwaine will mistake him for a fan. 

“Pleasure to meet you too! So what do they call you then?” Gwaine says enthusiastically. 

Gwaine’s accent’s still the same and Merlin can hardly breathe, his heart pounding in his chest as he drinks in the sight of his friend’s face. Gwaine is glowing with good health, vibrant as the morning sun splitting the clouds, and Gwaine’s smile is a form of magic in its own right.

“Merlin,” he says and congratulates himself on remembering his own name. It’s the first of the Knights he’s found and standing here in front of Gwaine feels like the world is starting to make sense again.

“After the bird or the wizard?” Gwaine asks and Merlin can’t help but laugh. 

“The bird. Not that most people have even heard of,” he says, watching the smile light up Gwaine’s craggy face.

“Had to learn falconry for one of my roles,” Gwaine says, flinging an arm out as if encouraging an invisible bird to land on it. “They’re powerful birds for their size. Love to chase anything that they’re set on.”

“You did your own falconry for As She Flies?” Merlin asks. He’s gorged himself on every film of Gwaine’s, reading through the credits for any name that might be one of the Knights. 

“Yeah,” Gwaine says, basking with a little toss of his head that makes his chestnut curls dance under the sunlight. “I like to do my own stunts as best as I can.”

Merlin doesn’t say anything about how Gwaine’s sword fighting in Rise of the Dragon was a perfect match for how he’d fought back in Camelot. He swallows the words down instead, fingers twitching nervously at his side,

“Shall we get going? You’ve got my schedule, right?” Gwaine prompts when Merlin says nothing in response.

“Ah - yes, “ Merlin says, fumbling to bring it up on the tablet. He can barely look away from Gwaine’s face long enough to show him the schedule. “Here. A session with your personal trainer this morning, then your accent coach, then lunch. After that, a quick trip to the spa, then you have a networking dinner, then a movie premiere.”

“Great,” Gwaine says, grinning at Merlin. “Let’s go.”

He links an arm through Merlin’s, as if they’re old friends, and takes him away on an adventure once more.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you like this! I went with the reincarnation trope and unusual jobs, since I wanted to mirror the king-servant relationship between Arthur and Merlin but show how it would be different if it were Gwaine and Merlin instead.
> 
> The romance is more implied than obvious, but I'm writing a more explicitly romantic treat for you as well to make up for this one being relatively subtle.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Five Slices of Life](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13605420) by [Wildcard](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wildcard/pseuds/Wildcard)




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